Monday, July 31, 2017

Wednesday, I went to karaoke with some of the people from the seminar house. After having a bit of difficulty getting inside (I had trouble speaking with the worker), I finally got inside and I got to sing some songs.

I do have an example of when I sang, however, the file size is too big.

Thursday, there was a party on campus. One of the clubs was putting on an event to help students meet each other at a restaurant either right outside one of the gates. They had lots of different food to eat (pizza, clams, rice, different types of spaghetti, etc.) and two different things for everyone to do. One was the spiciest pizza I have ever had the displeasure of eating (I swear I have burns on my tongue from it). The other was bingo. They actually gave away some really good prizes (tickets to Okinawa, a bicycle, gift cards, and someone from the seminar house got a picture). It was a lot of fun and I am glad I went.

Saturday, July 1, 2017

First, with some good news: I got into the second class like I wanted!
Bad news: It's really, REALLY tough. However, I was ready for that
challenge when I came here and I've been studying very hard.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to do as much my second week here because I
was busy studying for a test on Monday. However, that doesn't mean that
my week or weekend was without adventure.

On Thursday, the resident assistants threw a welcome party for everyone.
We had nachos, pizza (which has different toppings from American pizza
like shrimp and eggplant), and sushi
to eat and we also played Paper Telephone (kind of like telephone, but
with pictures). Luckily, my team got second place and we didn't have to
eat the mystery cream puffs (some of them were filled with spicy mustard
and one guy almost threw up because of them).

Monday, June 12, 2017

Hello, everyone! I'm doing just fine here in Japan. Sore feet, a couple
of blisters, a cold sore, and having to go to bed by 10:00 PM, but
besides those I am doing well. I have been very busy settling in and
going to places in the area. Today, I'll be going over some of that.

I left for Japan on Tuesday, central American time. By the time I got to
Japan, it was about 2:30 PM Japan time. Here are the pictures of the plane ride over here. With the
exception of the last one, all of them are from America because it was
raining when I touched down in Japan.

Sunday, June 11, 2017

My name is Rose Steffensmeier. I'm a senior at Western Illinois
University. Soon, I will be going to Japan for the first time in my
life. I have wanted to go to Japan for a very long time and I now
finally have the chance to do so. I'm going to Kansai Gaidai University
in Hirakata City, Osaka Prefecture. I will be there for six weeks,
studying Japanese language, history, and culture. I've already arrived, but for those of you who want some help getting ready for a program of your own, I'll go over some of the steps that I took to be able
to go to Japan.

1. Sign up for Kansai Gaidai's summer program.I couldn't go if I didn't sign up for it. I went outside the school's normal programs offered in order to find this one, but the school itself should be the first place you look when looking for somewhere to study. They have a bunch of great offerings and there will be something for everyone. If money is something you need to be worried about, read the next point.

2. Sign up for scholarships and financial aid.This one is very important. Scholarships really do help out
when going to school in general, but especially when you're going
overseas since you'll want to get souvenirs, try new food, etc. I signed
up for financial aid through my college as well as scholarships. I
managed to get one scholarship through the school.

There was one scholarship that was the most helpful was the $2,500 I received from the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship
(also called the Gilman Scholarship). This scholarship gives out awards
to many students every year whether your study abroad program is for a
semester, a full year, or for a summer like mine is. While many people
got the scholarship all across the United States, I was the only one to
have gotten it at WIU. There was even a press release on the website back in May.

Sign up for those scholarships; you never know if you'll will receive them if you don't sign up or not.

3. Getting visa and passport in order.

Since I had been to France before when I was still in high school, I
still have a passport that was good, but if you are going to a foreign
country, make sure you sign up for one months in advance. This way you'll know you will have it before you leave.

This visa was another matter. I had to look up Japanese laws and was
confused on the wording of some of them. I even emailed one of the
embassies to see what I needed, but I apparently emailed the wrong one.
It wasn't until Kansai Gaidai sent an email about which citizens of
which countries needed to get visas. Americans only need to get visas if
they are going to be there for more than 90 days unless they are
working. I'm only going to be there for about 45 days, so I turned out
to be fine, but if you're going overseas, make sure you have the right
visas.

4. Signing up for school credit.

I am the first person from Western Illinois University to be
participating in this program. This meant that I had no idea if I would
be getting anything that would be applicable to my general credits that I
need to graduate. I talked with both my advisor and the Study Abroad
office and, if I pass all of the necessary classes, will be receiving 8
humanities credits. I will be doing my best in all of my classes!

5. Purchase plane tickets.

I went with my mother to the travel agent in Macomb. They helped with
purchasing plane tickets and booking my hotel room for the first night.
I'm very grateful for their help and would go to them in the future. 6. Gather all necessary supplies.

This includes textbooks. I had to make sure that I'm getting the right stuff.

7. Pack up everything.

I made extra sure that I did not put my passport in my suitcase and put
it in my backpack instead. You need your passport to be able to get past
airport security, but you have to hand your suitcase over to luggage
first, so always make doubly sure that you have your passport on you
BEFORE you give your suitcase over.
I can't wait to board that plane and go to Japan. I also hope that if
you are going to an overseas country for study abroad that this list
helps you out as well.